Prove It
by JumbledIdeas
Summary: For weeks Brennan and Booth have ignored how things have changed. Will Brennan trying to leave without a word be all it takes to get Booth to try and fix what went wrong? Or will that be up to our favorite anthropologist? Post PartsoftheSum & Predato
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I, of course, don't own Bones in any way, shape, or form. Do you? If so, we should talk. :]**

Booth gave the waitress a friendly smile as she set his plate of pie down in front of him before turning his attention back to the woman occupying the other side of the table. She smiled at him, finding his obvious joy in the plate of pie amusing. They chatted easily as they began to eat the food they had ordered for lunch.

That is, until something over her shoulder caught his eye. She watched as a new smile came over his face and he stood.

"Bones," he called in greeting across the diner.

Brennan turned at the sound of the familiar nickname and smiled, taking a few steps towards their regular table. Then she saw something that made her stop short. Catherine was seated in the seat opposite Booth, the seat normally reserved for her. She felt the smile fall from her face and an unpleasant feeling creeping into her. Without giving it much thought she quickly turned on her heel and left the diner as fast as she could.

Booth watched, surprised and confused as Brennan left before he could even blink. He wasn't sure if he should follow her or not. After a few seconds of internal debate he made to step towards the door, but a hand touched his arm. He looked down and Catherine was looking at him, obviously asking him to stay. Ignoring the rotten feeling in his gut he sat back down in his chair. They finished their lunch, Booth all the while throwing wanting glances at the door.

* * *

Booth stood moodily in the elevator at the Hoover building as he made his way back to his office. He passed a few agents in the hall and they greeted him casually but he ignored them all. His mind was running at least ten different directions, trying to figure out what was bothering his partner. He planned to grab a file from his desk and head over to the Jeffersonian to talked to her under the guise of work.

That plan quickly moved to the back of his mind when he finally reached his desk. Sitting atop the file he wanted was an egg. He slowly and curiously picked up the egg. When he turned it over in his hand, he noticed two words written on it with a permanent maker in very familiar hand writing.

_Double Standard? _

Suddenly it dawned on him. The diner was theirs. He cursed himself under his breath and grabbed the file. Then he quickly headed back the way he came, the egg carefully in his hand.

* * *

Panting slightly, Booth ran into the lab. Spotting a few lab coats on the platform, he jogged towards them.

"Bones!" he called, not yet able to see who was actually on the platform. As he reached the top of the steps he saw Angela, Hodgins, and Clark. "Any of you seen Bones?" he asked, slightly breathless.

Clark and Hodgins simply shook their heads before resuming their work on the remains that rested on the table.

"Ange?" he asked.

Angela watched him for a moment. "Why are you looking for her?" she asked.

Booth's eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed her unhappy tone. "I need to talk to her."

"Huh," Angela said guardedly. "Sorry. I can't help you."

"Angela," he said frustratedly.

She didn't seem at all phased by his annoyance and just turned away from him.

"What's with the laser eyes, Seeley?" Cam asked as she made her way up the stairs, snapping her rubber gloves into place.

Booth moved his attention from Angela and looked at his friend. "Have you seen Bones, Cam?"

Cam picked up the victim's hand to examine the fingers. "Yes, I have," she replied.

Booth sighed in relief. "Where is she?" he asked.

"I don't know," Cam replied.

"You just said you did."

"I spoke with Dr. Brennan in my office half an hour ago. Where she went after that, I don't know," Cam explained. "Do you have a case? Because Dr. Eddison will be filling in for Dr. Brennan during her leave of absence."

Booth had been in the process of storming out when he suddenly turned back around. "Her what?" he demanded.

Cam sighed in a disinterested manner. "She requested time off. I granted it."

"How much time?" he asked.

Cam gave him a hard look. "I really don't see how that is any of your concern, Agent Booth."

"Damn it, Cam! How long?" he yelled. They were all silent as Booth and Cam stared each other down for several minutes.

Fed up, Booth turned to leave. He would just go find Brennan himself.

As Booth retreated, Angela and Cam exchanged looks. Angela gave Cam a slight nod.

"Two months, Seeley!" she called after him.

She sighed and hunched her shoulders a bit. "Do you think we stalled long enough?" she asked them.

Angela glanced at her watched. "It takes Bren fifteen minutes to get home. She could be packed just as quickly. She just has to decide where to go. Even if Booth used his siren it would be cutting it pretty close. I don't think he'll make it," she said sadly.

Hodgins rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You guys did the right thing," he told the women.

"By helping her run away?" Angela asked.

"By being her friend. You did what she asked and trusted you to do. She needs to trust and rely on you," Clark told them.

They were all surprised that Clark had spoken up in such a personal situation, he'd always avoided that at all costs.

Cam and Angela smiled gratefully for his comforting words.

"Let's get back to work," Cam sighed.

* * *

Throwing his SUV into park, Booth withdrew his keys, silencing the siren. He sprinted into Brennan's apartment building.

When he finally reached her front door he stopped. For a few moments all he did was stare at it and listen, looking for any sign that she would still be inside. Taking a deep breath he reached for the doorknob. He was surprised to find it unlocked, she was home.

Booth pushed the door open silently and stepped into his partner's apartment. It was a place he'd been many times before. He knew it as well as his own. He'd often felt at home and comfortable here, until this day. He entered the living room and felt a wave of unwelcome wash over him. He surveyed the living room and saw no sign of her. Closing the door with a faint click, he locked it in place behind him. He thought about yelling out to her but thought better of it. He'd wait, she had to come his way eventually.

Sure enough a minute later she emerged from her bedroom, a suitcase rolling along behind her. She was looking at the ground as she walked, so she didn't notice him at first. It wasn't until he shook her hair from her face did she see the figure standing by her door. She stopped and could only stare at him with wide eyes.

"Going somewhere, Bones?" he asked casually, leaning easily against the door behind him. He was blocking her exit.

She looked away from him and rolled her suitcase to a stop next to the couch. "Yes," she stated, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on the arm of the couch.

"Where?" he asked curiously.

"I don't think that's really any of your business," she replied coldly.

"Really?" he asked, keeping his tone light. "Because when this spur of the moment trip happens to come about just after I see you run out of the diner and away from me, I kind of think that makes it my business."

"Well, you're wrong," she informed him.

"Am I, Bones?" He pushed himself away from the door and took a few steps towards her.

She still wouldn't look at him but didn't move away.

"Then I found this on my desk," he said, holding up the egg. He rolled his between his fingertips. "I'm supposed to believe that this isn't any of my business? My partner runs away from me, I get a little mystery gift on my desk, my friends dodge my questions and you're ready to jet off on vacation without so much as a word to me."

She held her jaw firmly, annoyed. "You don't get a say in the things I do, Agent Booth. I make my own decisions. So, no, you don't get to have an opinion about when, where or how I choose to spend my time."

"I deserved some notice on this," he argued.

"No, you didn't! You don't have any sort of claim to me," she shot back.

"You're my partner!" his voice was rising as well.

"Not anymore," she said coldly.

Booth stared at her, dumbfounded. "What?" he managed to say.

Brennan finally turned to look at him, but was careful not to look him in the eyes. "I am no longer going to be working as a liaison to the FBI. Therefore, I am no longer your partner," she explained. "So, I repeat, you have no claim to me."

"Bones," he said, his voice almost sounding broken. "You don't want to work with me anymore? I messed up that bad?"

Brennan turned her gaze away from him again, settling for the carpet.

Booth took a small step backwards and held his body differently, obviously hurt. "I," he started. "I know I forgot the rule, Bones, but come on, give me another chance, I won't bring her anywhere near our things."

Brennan turned to look at him again, her face clearly incredulous. "This isn't just about today, Booth. I've had an open ended ticket ready for weeks, this isn't just some overly dramatic reaction to you forgetting some rule you yourself set forward," she said, clearly exasperated.

Booth looked even more confused than he did before. "You've been planning to leave for weeks? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted you to give me a reason to stay!" she said loudly, her voice breaking minutely. She stood up straight and moved farther away from him.

Booth looked at her shocked. "Bones?" he asked, clearly having no idea what she was saying.

Brennan's back was to him, her arms still wrapped protectively around herself. She took a deep breath and turned back around, to see him staring at her. "For years I've listened to you go on and on about love," she started to explain, her voice quiet but carrying far in the silent room. "How there is someone out there for everyone, someone to complete them and make them happy. How when those two people are together, it's the best thing in the world, it isn't just about temporary companionship and sex without any sort of figurative strings attached. Those people in love, they break the laws of physics. The love those people have, it's worth everything. It's worth the fight to get it and the hard times that might come along the way."

Brennan ran a frustrated hand through her hair as her voice broke. "And for years, I've been adamant that you're wrong. There is no such thing as forever. The feelings we associate with love are just chemical reactions in the brain. No two people could possibly have any idea how they will feel about each other in the future. No relationships can last. People leave and people get hurt, all because we all want to believe the crazy impossibility that permanent relationships exist."

Booth couldn't think of anything to say. He had no words to defend all the things she was saying. All he could do was listen.

"Despite all the times I've argued and denied your ideas, I found myself not so sure. At first I just wanted to believe. Then I started to think that maybe there could be some sort of truth behind it all. But still I argued, not willing to admit it to anyone but myself. Just when I start to think, maybe I am able to love. Maybe there is a way that a man could love someone like me. All of my original ideas about love, they were proven right to me."

"What? Bones, who told you that?" he demanded angrily. Someone told her she was unlovable, that was insane.

Brennan gave a cold, mirthless laugh. "You did."

Booth felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He looked like it too, physically recoiling at her words. "Bones," he started to speak, his voice heavy with guilt and pain. "I never…"

"No?" she asked a little angrily. "Five weeks ago, you said you wanted to give this a chance. I told you that I'm not a gambler. I couldn't just throw away the friendship I thought we had on a gamble. I needed certainty. I'm a scientist. I like experiments and evidence, proof. I don't know how to change that. I've never taken a leap before, I don't know how." At this point Brennan was fighting back tears, reaching up to brush them away angrily. "I want to be loved," she insisted. "I don't want to be this horrible person anymore. I don't want to stay this way, a person that no one can bare to love. I want to change."

"Bones," Booth said again, taking a step forward, extending a hand to touch her.

She moved away from him quickly. "No! You tell me you're that guy," she cried. "You've always known. I took this to mean you loved me. Your definition of love. The law of physics breaking, old growing, and constantly supporting kind of love. I tell you that I'm a scientist. I can't change… and you agree with me. Then I see you with her… a scientist. You've told me that love is worth fighting for. But you backed down when I got scared and wanted to be able to change."


	2. Chapter 2

Brennan looked at Booth feeling exposed and raw. She didn't try to brush away the tears she knew were falling from her eyes, not wanting to admit she let her tears actually fall. She took a deep, shuddering breath in an attempt to calm herself. Her arms were wrapped around her middle for protection. She didn't want to look anymore weak in front of this man than she had to.

Booth didn't dare move again, afraid to offend or upset her further. His mind didn't seem to be working correctly. He felt as if he was thinking so many different things at the same time, that it was running in all different directions but that it was also blank of all thought.

The silence in the apartment last for several minutes, it was a terribly loud silence though. Oppressive and intimidating.

Booth finally opened his mouth to speak, not really sure what he was trying to say. But he didn't have the opportunity to say anything.

Brennan sniffled lightly and squeezed her arms more tightly around herself. "Could you please just leave?" she whispered. "I think I've embarrassed myself more than enough for one day. I'd like to get to the airport." She turned away from him and began walking towards her hallway.

Just as she reached the beginning of it and was rounding the corner, soon to be out of his line of sight, something in Booth snapped. He took large, deliberate steps to follow her, catching up to her in seconds. "Don't I get a say in any of this?" he asked.

Brennan stiffened but continued to walk. "No, you don't," she responded. "Weren't you listening?" She pushed open her bedroom door and attempted to close it behind her.

Booth caught the door in his hand and entered without asking permission, knowing she'd never grant it. "Yeah," he said, "and I think that I should get to speak my side of all this."

Brennan turned around, several feet in front of him, standing by her window, sure to keep a safe distance between the two of them. "I understand just fine. It was all talk. All these years, they were pretty words, but when it all comes down to the end, it was the same as everyone else."

"Don't," he said hard and firm, pointing a finger at her accusingly and seriously. "Don't compare me to all of those terrible people who have left you, hurt you, took advantage of the person you are. Don't."

"What? Does the truth hurt?" she asked snidely. "Is it hard to admit that you aren't some perfect saint?"

"I don't think I'm perfect. You know that," he told her. "You know me."

"A few weeks ago, I might have agreed with you," she nodded. Then her eyes narrowed slightly. "But I really don't anymore."

"Don't say that," Booth begged quietly, taking a few steps towards her. She couldn't move farther away, already being at the wall. He was standing about a foot from her when he came to a stop. He regrettably couldn't remember when he'd last stood so close to her. Everything between them was so messed up. "You know me," he whispered, "better than anyone. No one else, just you."

She wouldn't meet his eyes, her gaze merely resting at his clavicle straight ahead of her. She could feel his breathe on her face as he spoke to her quietly. Every part of her was extremely aware of his close proximity. From the sound to the smell and even just the feeling that he was close, all of her was conscious of him.

Booth watched her, wondering if he'd get any sort of response. Receiving none he spoke again. "You know I'll have pie at any chance I get. You know I can cook but I eat take out more often than not. You know I hate clowns. You know what cars and sports I like. You know I'm not a genius, but I'm good at my job."

"Those are all trivial things," she said. "None of that really matters."

Booth sighed. "Ok. You know I walk up the stairs with my left foot. I hold the phone with my right hand, my coffee mug too."

Brennan's eyes widened in surprise and she almost looked up at him but caught herself before she could catch his gaze. She hadn't been aware that he'd known she noticed things like that and commented on them to Sweets when he had stopped doing them after his surgery.

"You know about my son," he continued, trying to make her understand. "You know I used to have a gambling problem. The things I did as a sniper, the people I've killed, the lives I've ruined, you know that. You've seen the scars and my x-rays. My father," he stated firmly. "You are the only person I've ever willingly told about my father. The stuff he did, you're the only one. The only one."

Still not looking at him, Brennan could only listen. His voice was quiet and sad. If she was a guessing sort of person she'd assume he had tears in his eyes.

Booth closed his eyes to try and stop his tears from falling. Taking a chance, he slowly brought his hand to Brennan's, touching it lightly, not holding it really, just touching. She didn't make any move to further the contact or to reciprocate in any way, but she didn't pull away either, so he continued to just touch her.

"If there was ever any time that you trusted me, can you make it now?" he asked. Not expecting her to say anything, he persisted. "Trust me when I say I meant all of those things I've told you. Loving someone is that amazing. It is that special. It takes over and makes you lose sense of your rationality and reasoning. Proper brain functioning becomes unimportant and it makes us do stupid things. It made me do stupid things."

Brennan was curious and couldn't help flicking her eyes briefly to his face. He was staring right at her face, his eyes desperate for her to understand.

"That night, Bones, when you told me no. I stopped listening," he said regretfully. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I just had to get the words that I've kept to myself all this time out and they came out wrong. Then you told me no. I didn't know what to do. I tried again, but I wasn't making it any better, I wasn't saying anything the right way. And you just kept saying no," he choked a little, everything coming back again. He could practically feel her pushing him away again, yelling 'No! No!' He barely registered that Brennan had finally moved, a hand now resting lightly on his bicep.

"When you said you couldn't change… I might as well been punched in the gut, it hurt. After all this time, thinking—_hoping_ that maybe someday you could love me. But here you were telling me no. I can't make you love me, I know that. And it isn't fair to you to have me trailing around behind you, loving you and hoping you'll change your mind."

"And Catherine," he said. Brennan stiffened immediately. "She asked but I couldn't. Dinner with her, Bones, it isn't right. We have lunch sometimes. I introduced her to a buddy of mine. We aren't—I couldn't…" He trailed of sadly, hanging his head a little, ashamed that they had come to this. Things between them had been strained for weeks, but he hadn't done anything. He just hoped it would resolve itself.

"I love you," he said softly, looking back up at her face, taking another step towards her, invading her space more. "And I will spend everyday of the rest of my life doing everything I can to prove that to you if you let me," he said passionately.

Brennan's fingers fisted the material of his shirt sleeve under her hand. She began to examine everything that had happened today and the last few weeks. But then she stopped herself. Hadn't she just said she didn't want to have to analyze everything she was feeling? She didn't know if she could change, maybe this was where she could start. She just had to feel.

Slowly, Brennan turned to look up at Booth's face. His expression clearly written on his face, even to someone as inept at reading people as her. He looked terrified, affair she'd send him away with harsh words; he didn't feel he deserved a second chance. Brennan slowly took a small step, bringing her body across the few inches of air that separated them. Booth watched her carefully, unsure of what she was thinking. For the first time that day she brought her eyes to his. They shared a long look like they used to, long and comfortable, oblivious to everything but them. She rose up slightly on her tip toes as her hand moved further up to his shoulder. The two of their hands that they'd kept in contact turned into each other's, fingers squeezing gently. Booth stayed still, not wanting to give her any reason to back away from him. After taking one last steadying breath, Brennan closed her eyes and pressed her lips lightly to his.

Booth was a bit unsure as to how to respond at first. He didn't want to mess this up again, so he let his own eyes slipped closed and gave her all of the control. The kiss stayed soft and slow. Brennan slipped her hand up from his shoulder to the back of his neck, gently fingering his hair. Taking her movement as an ok, Booth slipped his own hand around her, resting it on the small of her back. He flexed his fingers slightly as she finally pulled away. A hair's breadth separated them, their eyes opening simultaneously.

"I love you," Brennan admitted in very small whisper, almost afraid to let it out.

Booth gently rubbed circles with his thumb on her back. "I love you," he replied just as quietly.

Brennan bit her lip hesitantly, looking him in the eyes. "Prove it to me?" she asked, still quiet, as if speaking too loudly would ruin everything.

He was mildly surprised by the timidity in her voice. Booth surveyed her face. He wanted to be sure he was reading her right and that she really wanted what he thought she was asking of him. She looked back at him surely, her heart beating a little faster than usual. "Always," he murmured before slowly reconnecting his lips to her. This kiss was just as mind blowing as the last one but had lost the hesitance they'd been feeling. Booth let his other hand join the other on her back, wrapping her securely in his embrace, as hers came to snuggly hug his neck. The kiss only broke when the need for air became too great. Booth pulled her closer, settling his face in the crook of her neck, pressing a kiss their sweetly. Brennan's hand fisted gently ran through his hair.

Straightening up, Booth reached up and behind him to take her hands in his. He brought them up to his lips, kissing them each palm in turn. All the while, he kept his eyes looked to hers. "I love you," he told her again as he slowly took a step back, leading her towards the bed.

**AN: There you have it. Chapter two. I had already had this chapter written when I posted the first, hence the quick addition. My next update will deffinitely not be as quick. Things on my end are pretty crazy, especially with school and finals coming up. But be patient with me? I really like playing with these characters and hope I'll get an opprotunity to add more onto this story soon. Review! Tell me what you think.**


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